Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan is the latest book I’ve enjoyed reading about someone’s interesting life experiences. It has been in my collection for a few years, after spotting it in the The Feminist Bookshop in Brighton. I quite often pick out books for my future self, knowing I might not read them immediately. This is one such example, and To Kill a Mockingbird was another.
Brain on Fire is a memoir of a time in Susannah’s life of excruciating and life-threatening illness. She developed anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis and her body began to attack her brain.
During the most acute time of her illness she is in hospital for a month, the majority of which she cannot remember. Susannah’s memoir of piecing back together what happened during that month, uses medical notes, video footage, journal entries and recollections of her closest family, friends and colleagues.
Her illness is so rare at the time that there are plenty of misdiagnoses. Tests that doctors believe will tell them something often come back clear or negative. Her symptoms also present as multiple other diseases, disorders and syndromes. Courses of medication often mask, conceal and ultimately do not cure the underlying inflammatory issues.
It is fascinating to read and written very honestly. Susannah’s journalistic experience is evident and she neither sugar coats nor shies away from her painful and harrowing experiences. This includes the darkest moments of her illness, erratic behaviour, the traumas her body is put through, and the mental and physical regression she suffers as a result. The effects on her family are clearly palpable, and her road to recovery is also well detailed.
With so few cases at the time, and so little known about her illness, plus the seemingly scattergun and pot luck chances behind contracting and fully recovering from it, it is a sobering reminder of how grateful we must be for our good health when we have it. I read Brain on Fire gently over the course of a few weeks. It has often made me pause to wonder what if something like this were to happen to me and my family.
It is an informative, courageous and inspiring book.
